The present invention relates to a metal leaf, particularly to a metal leaf having a good appearance and hand touchness, and being capable of industrial mass-production for producing the same.
There are known an extremely thin gold leaf and silver leaf which have a thickness of less than 1 .mu. and they are utilized for ornament art and industrial art, for instance, religious articles such as a Buddhist statue and a household Buddhist shrine, furnitures such as a sliding screen and a folding screen, other ornaments such as a lacquer ware and a folding fan, and the like.
As a method for producing such a metal leaf, however, only handicraft production hitherto has been carried out. In the handicraft method for producing a metal leaf, a piece of metal such as gold or silver is finely patted by a hammer to spread, so as to be a thickness of about 100 m.mu.. Therefore, a skilled art is required for the production of metal leaves.
In addition, accompanying with the elevation of recent worker's expense the price of gold or silver leaf is significantly rised. Furthemore, the metal leaf is an extremely thin leaf so that there is never known any method of mass-production thereof.
Such a known metal leaf also has disadvantages that it is very difficult to deal with owing to its poor self-supporting property and an excessive care and attention are required in case of using. Moreover, the metal leaf has also defects that it is easily oxidized to change its color and is readily rubbed off.